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David's Essays

A collection of David's thoughts, musings, and writings that didn't really fit anywhere else...so we collected them all and put them here for you to peruse at your leisure!

Posted by Admin at 10:19pm

Guest Professor David Weber!

Series: General

Date: July 19, 2011

As many of you know, David has a deep and abiding love of history. In fact, the running joke around the house is that if you stand still long enough, he can turn just about anything into a history lesson. At one point, he was considering a future as a college history professor...which might explain some of his leanings!

A couple of months ago, David was contacted by a professor from Clemson who was putting together a fun course for their continuing education program. The course description has finally been released, and I hope that some of you in the Upstate South Carolina Area might be interested. It sounds like an awful lot of fun!

Genres Done Right: Meet the Authors Who Create Them

Are you in a reading rut? Do you always make a beeline for the same section in a bookstore? Or maybe you restrict your diet to novels and nonfiction from a handful of authors you started reading a decade ago.

Well, it’s time to expand your horizons, and OLLI is offering an exciting and fun introduction to a variety of genres from the folks who know them best—authors. In this seven-week course, hosted by local mystery author Linda Lovely, you’ll have the opportunity to hear seven authors describe what makes the genre(s) they write in unique...their biggest challenges...what draws them to their subject matter...how they gather ideas for plots, characters and settings. And they’ll answer your questions on everything from world building to publishing options.

Each week, Linda Lovely will provide background material describing the featured genre(s), a bit of history and a look at their current niche in the world of literature, new titles and old favorites. While there is no required reading, participants are encouraged to read a novel, memoir or book by each of the featured authors.

Even if you’re convinced you have no interest in one of these genres, you may find it enlightening to learn why your father or grandchild, husband or cousin is hooked. The series kicks off with a bang on October 3, when N.Y. Times best-selling science fiction writer David Weber visits. Please join us!

Here’s a list of the featured authors/genres and a tentative schedule. Some guests may trade dates to accommodate schedule changes:

Science Fiction (Oct. 3)David Weber. A N.Y. Times best-selling science fiction author, Weber has published 15 books in his Honorverse (Honor Harrington) series. Since book number eight, all have made it to at least the N.Y. Times extended list of bestsellers. During the past 20 years, he’s written and published nearly 47 titles.

Novels for Youth, Stories for Baseball Fans, Poetry (Oct. 10)Gene Fehler. He has published three books for middle grade students, including Don’t Blame the Umpire. Booklist had this to say about his writing: “When a phenom like Gene Fehler, the author of the ingenious parodies of classic poems, wanders onto the field unannounced, you find a place for him in the lineup immediately." The author of over 1,800 published poems, stories and articles—many tied to his love for baseball.

Romance & Fantasy (Oct. 17)Anna DeStefano. She is the best-selling author of classic romance for Harlequin and Silhouette and contemporary psychic fantasy for Dorchester Publishing. Her novels have won and/or made the finals in numerous national contests, including twice winning the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award and reaching the finals in the National Reader's Choice Awards, Book Buyers Best Awards, and the Holt Medallion.

Memoir/Christian Inspirational (Oct. 24)Ginny Dent Brant. She is the daughter of Harry Dent, who served as an advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford and George H.W. Bush and on Senator Strom Thurmond’s staff. She wrote her memoir, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, because she says, “It’s too good of a story about the grace of God not to tell.”

Nonfiction History-Revolutionary War & Civil Rights (Oct. 31)Wade Kolb III. A practicing attorney and the former executive editor of the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy, he has co-edited the Revolutionary War history—Captured at Kings Mountain, The Diary of Uzal Johnson, a Loyalist Surgeon. He’s also condensed years of research to produce a new soon-to-be-published study, Briggs v. Elliott Revisited: A Study in Grassroots Activism and Trial Advocacy from the Early Civil Rights Era.

Historical Thrillers & Audio Novelization of Macbeth (Nov. 7)A.J. Hartley. Another N.Y. Times best-selling author, the British-born Hartley writes adult historical thrillers, and fantasy. His latest venture is collaboration on the just-released Audible novelization of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Hartley is a professor of Shakespeare in the Department of Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Hartley co-authored the audio-exclusive adaptive novelization of Macbeth, with mystery writer David Hewson. The audio is voiced by none other than Alan Cumming.

Mystery/Romantic Suspense (Nov. 14)Linda Lovely. She is the author of Dear Killer, a mystery/suspense novel set in the South Carolina Lowcountry. She is also president of the Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her manuscripts have won or made the finals in 15 competitions including RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier contests.